Marcie Boerner, COO of Webster-Calhoun Cooperative, discusses their partnership with Innovative Systems for OSS/BSS, Video, and Voice. Webster-Calhoun is located in Gowrie, Iowa and serves 3,700 internet customers, 2,500 voice customers, and 1,500 video customers. Webster-Calhoun converted to Innovative Systems in 2008 and they have leveraged software to better serve their members.
Boerner explains operational efficiencies gained as a result of putting the customer first. “What we’re doing really well at Webster Calhoun is being local, being in the community, and being present as a cooperative. That’s our philosophy, we are owned by our members and our members are our first priority. We can now efficiently work within our office, and be able to bill and provide services to our customers.”
Part of serving their members and community is providing the best experience possible. “eLation allows us to go to a customer’s account, and see all of their services. Because it’s account based, it’s not based on a phone number, it’s not based on internet service. [eLation] is billing it all together. We can find all the information we need for that customer.”
The conversion was an opportunity to streamline processes and improve customer record accuracy. “When we made our conversion to Innovative Systems, it really was a huge change for us internally. At that time, we were still utilizing a lot of paper processes, our trouble tickets or service orders were all paper. The ability to go through the conversion and get things onto one account, so that you didn’t have to dig through paperwork to find your information.”
Boerner discusses the importance of clear communication for internal employees on customer accounts. When a customer calls in, “I can go to the activity log, and I can see who’s viewed that account. If somebody talked to them on a previous day, I know where that comment came from, or who I can reach out to ask more questions. Any documents that they may have signed previously via eSign are all under the documents on that account so we can organize it so much better.”
Boerner is always thinking long-term. She wants to ensure Webster-Calhoun has the best communication possible and will continue to put their members first in the future. “The fact that we can use descriptions within the service order so we can explain, in our words, what the customer wants, so that if I go back to that order, a year from now, I’ll know exactly what happened within that account just by the description or the summary that we put.”
Watch the Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Values Community First video to learn more.
Marcie Boerner, COO
Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association
Marcie Boerner is the COO for Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association in Gowrie, located in north central Iowa. Her responsibilities have evolved over the past 26 years including customer service, carrier access billing, regulatory filings, new product implementation, billing and marketing. Webster Calhoun provides service to 20 small rural communities with 3,800 Internet, 1,500 TV and 2,500 phone subscribers.
This series features insight into important broadband industry issues from industry leaders.
